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Meanderings
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Thursday, 21 April 2011 21:45 |
Kimimaro Yoga, a student at the Heisei College of Economics, dreams of leading a stable, independent life - something that Masakaki, a rep from the trading division of the Bank of Midas, appears to be offering him. The trade sounds simple: in exchange for holding Kimimaro's future as collateral, he'll be able to draw on Midas' funds - but like many financial transactions, the offer doesn't come without risk...
The Bank of Midas doesn't operate in the real world, that's for sure - it's based firmly in the Financial District, a virtual world reached by an unusual taxi (travelling at 88mph, by the look of it) and where the Entrepreneurs of the Midas Bank complete their challenges. Drawing on the bank's funds, you see, seems to trigger a challenge between Entrepreneurs - win the challenge, withdraw the requested funds; lose the challenge... well, the results could be disastrous. The episode lets us see one of those challenges before introducing Kimimaro and his life, before moving on to have Masakaki make him the offer that he ultimately can't refuse.
So. We've got an allegory for the effect of greed and consumption, where the effects are played out in battles that maybe wouldn't look out of place in a shounen fighting show. It's an intriguing idea, but it's the fighting aspect that sticks out to me as something that could trip it up - but it's too early yet to really make a judgement, as it feels that there's enough going on here that this opening episode hasn't been able to cover it all.
THE GOOD: High production values, intriguing setting, split between the real world and the Financial District allows for some thoroughly surreal visuals at times. It's got style.
THE BAD: Niggly things in the "don't do this" department - surreal isn't always a good thing, depending how it's used; the challenges between Entrepreneurs could become rather routine, and I don't want another fighting show, thanks.
Overall, though, there's a lot here to like and some clear pointers that there's more to be explained before the series really gets down to business. The jury's still very much out, but there's a lot of potential here, should the series make the most of it.
[C] is being simulcast by FUNimation (North America) and Anime On Demand (UK & Ireland).
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Backbites 
